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1991 | Buch

Evaluation of Flat Versus Complex Terrain Models in Estimating Pollutant Transport and Deposition in Complex Terrain Kapitel lesen Erstes Kapitel lesen

Municipal Waste Incineration Risk Assessment

Deposition, Food Chain Impacts, Uncertainty, and Research Needs

herausgegeben von: Curtis C. Travis

Verlag: Springer US

Buchreihe : Contemporary Issues in Risk Analysis

Enthalten in: Professional Book Archive

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Über dieses Buch

The disposal of large quantities of municipal solid waste (MSW) being generated by industrialized countries has become a serious problem. Since it is estimated that within 10 years, half of all municipalities will lack sufficient landfill space, many cities are considering municipal waste combustion as an alternative waste management option.\ Municipal waste combustors have been a source of contention in many local communities and a growing research topic in the scientific community. This book represents a compilation of chapters written by experienced individuals in the areas ofemissions estimation, deposition modeling, risk assessment, indirect exposures, and uncertainty analysis. Estimation of potential human risks associated with pollutants has become an increasing concern. Most often, values required for deposition rates and annual atmospheric concentrations are estimated through the useofatmospheric dispersion models. Chapter 1compares data on the tlatterrain versus the complex terrain dispersion models such as the U.S. EPA Industrial Source Complex Short Term (ISCST) and Long Term (lSCLT). Chapter 2 focuses on the modeling of atmospheric dispersion and dry deposition of fine particulates. A specific size particle (10-20 urn) is used because of its relevance to municipal waste facilities since best available control technology effectively removes particulates above this size range. The deposition ofmaterials from the atmosphere is a critical link in the pathway by which toxic atmospheric pollutants are transported to the surface of food chain components. Chapter 3 describes the importance accounting for wet deposition in risk assessments of municipal waste incinerators.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Evaluation of Flat Versus Complex Terrain Models in Estimating Pollutant Transport and Deposition in Complex Terrain
Abstract
Estimation of potential human health risks associated with pollutants emitted into the atmosphere from the stacks of municipal waste combustors (MWCs), fossil fuel plants, and similar point sources requires accurate knowledge of annual average atmospheric pollutant concentrations and deposition rates in the areas surrounding these facilities. Values for these quantities are most often estimated through the use of atmospheric dispersion models. While a vast number of these models exist and are readily available for use, the risk assessor is generally faced with obstacles such as little or no data on the size and distribution of emitted particles, limited computing capability, crude meteorological measurements, or insufficient knowledge of terrain for the location being modeled. Consequently, common practice when determining exposure to pollutants emitted from these facilities has been to use air dispersion models which require minimal computing power and site specific information. The majority of these models are based on the Gaussian plume formulation and contain only limited provisions for dealing with complicated atmospheric processes such as pollutant deposition and flow in complex terrain (i.e. terrain exceeding the height of the stack). Of these, undoubtedly the most widely used are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended Industrial Source Complex Short Term (ISCST) and Long Term (ISCLT) models (U.S. EPA, 1979).
Mark W. Yambert, Greg D. Belcher, Curtis C. Travis
Small Particle Deposition in Air Quality Modeling
Abstract
The combustion of municipal waste can potentially result in the release of toxic air contaminants into the atmosphere. Even though stringent air pollution controls are used in waste-to-energy facilities, some toxic materials can still be released into the atmosphere in the form of gases and fine particulates. This paper focuses on modeling the atmospheric dispersion and dry deposition of fine particulates.
Ray Kapahi
Accounting for Wet Deposition in Incinerator Risk Assessments
Abstract
The deposition of materials from the atmosphere is a critical link in the pathway by which toxic atmospheric pollutants (TAPS) are transported to crops and other surface materials. This deposition occurs by dry processes with some efficiency, particularly for gases and large particles (greater than 1 micron). However, in the presence of rain and other hydrometeors, deposition of many TAPs is greatly enhanced. This enhancement occurs both because the presence of rain and snow greatly increases the active surface area presented to atmospheric contaminants and because the hydro-meteors tend to sweep out a volume in their fall, collecting particles that are not displaced by the passing hydrometeor. In addition, hydrometeors falling through plumes close to discrete sources are exposed to relatively high concentrations of toxic materials at the plume centerline that may never be experienced at ground-level.
Sally A. Campbell, Kenneth L. Zankel, Roger Brower, James M. Teitt
Accounting for Dry Deposition in Incinerator Risk Assessments
Abstract
The incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW) results in the release of small amounts of hazardous pollutants. Determining the health and environmental risks associated with MSW incineration requires knowledge of the rate at which facility-emitted pollutants will disperse. The deposition of airborne pollutants onto plant, soil, and water surfaces can contribute substantially to human exposure. For example, the deposition of facility-emitted pollutants onto plants and soil surfaces, ingestion of contaminated plants and soil by cattle, and the ingestion of contaminated beef and daily products can be a significant pathway of human exposure. Travis and Hattemer-Frey (1987) showed that this particular pathway is the major source of human exposure to background levels of dioxin.
Curtis C. Travis, Mark W. Yambert
Gas-Particle Distribution and Atmospheric Deposition of Semivolatile Organic Compounds
Abstract
In the last two decades it has become clear that atmospheric deposition is a major input route of contaminants to the oceans, lakes, and remote continental regions of the world. “Acid rain” is now in school textbooks, but the public is less well acquainted with the aerial transport of metals and toxic organic chemicals. Popular accounts of this problem have appeared in “Discover” magazine (Brown, 1987), as part of a “National Geographic” feature on the Great Lakes (Cobb, 1987), and in the “Toronto Globe and Mail” (Fisher, 1988).
Terry F. Bidleman
An Overview of Food Chain Impacts from Municipal Waste Combustion
Abstract
Human exposure to pollutants emitted from a municipal waste combustor (MWC) can occur via inhalation, ingestion of contaminated food items, infant consumption of mother’s milk, and dermal absorption. Of particular concern, however, are potential exposures from ingesting contaminated food items. The food chain has been shown to be the primary source of human exposure to a large class of organics, including DDT, dioxin, pentachlorophenol, benzo(a)pyrene, and most pesticides (Beck et al., 1989;Hattemer-Frey and Travis, 1989b;Lioy et al., 1988;Travis and Arms, 1987;Travis and Hattemer-Frey, 1987).
Holly A. Hattemer-Frey, Curtis C. Travis
Current Studies on Human Exposure to Chemicals with Emphasis on the Plant Route
Abstract
The first step in the assessment of human exposure to an organic contaminant is the estimation of concentrations of the chemical in various environmental media such as air, water, soil and sediment. General multimedia models have been developed which can be used calculate an expected environmental distribution of a chemical based on its physical chemical characteristics.1,2,3,4
Sally Paterson, Donald Mackay
Air-To-Leaf Transfer of Organic Vapors to Plants
Abstract
In recent years new strategies for the study of the environmental distribution and fate of contaminants were introduced and the research interests have progressively been displaced from the old retrospective and descriptive approaches to the predictive ones. The focus is the understanding of the more significant processes of transformation of chemical substances under “environmental” conditions, as well as the substance partition among the main environmental compartments (e.g.: water, air, soils and sediments, aquatic and terrestrial biomass). The predictive capability of present methods needs to be improved, particularly when complex phenomena have to be predicted in detail: these require complex models, and the knowledge of a great number of parameters.
Eros Bacci, Davide Calamari
Uptake of Organic Contaminants by Plants
Abstract
Plants are central to all nourishment systems in both agro-and natural ecosystems. By fixing energy in carbon molecules (photosynthesis), they serve as the sole source of food and the primary source of minerals for most other organisms. Plants have evolved to efficiently collect CO2, from the dilute source in the air by providing extensive external and internal surfaces. Water and minerals are efficiently collected from the dilute sources in the soil by intricate root systems that extend to various depths and spread laterally. Roots enhance their own existence by exuding various acids and chelating organic chemicals into their surroundings. This increases mineral solubility and, thus, availability. Roots also provide a rich environment for the growth of numerous microorganisms. Some of these extend the collecting area of the root by becoming saprophytic companions with the roots, and other microbes have enzyme systems that enhance mineralization of decaying matter or accumulate and fix nitrogen from the air. Roots also collect and transport H2O which carries minerals to the top of plants and provides cooling as well as being a reactant and solvent for almost all biochemical processes.
Craig Mc Farlane
Uncertainties in Estimating Chemical Degradation and Accumulation in the Environment
Abstract
Dwindling landfill capacities, rising landfill costs, and the public health hazards posed by landfill operations have caused many communities to consider incineration of their municipal solid wastes (MSW). Recently, however, concerns regarding the potential human health risks posed by MSW incinerators have fueled widespread opposition to the operation of these facilities. These concerns often focus on the human health risks associated with exposure to contaminants that are emitted from the stacks of MSW incinerators and that may ultimately accumulate in the food chain.
Estimates of the level of exposure to MSW incinerator emissions can be improved by direct measurements of contaminant concentrations in air, soil, plants, livestock, and other media near an operating facility. Such data are usually unavailable, and it is therefore almost always necessary to rely on models to estimate contaminant concentrations in the relevant environmental media. This requires an understanding of the rate and extent of chemical degradation and bioaccumulation in the environment.
In this paper, the uncertainties in estimating chemical degradation and accumulation in the environment are discussed. Examples of the uncertainties in predicting environmental concentrations of chromium and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans are highlighted to illustrate the difficulties that may be encountered in assessing the risks posed by incinerator emissions.
Stephen T. Washburn, Adam P. Kahn
The Food Chain as a Source of Human Exposure from Municipal Waste Combustion: An Uncertainty Analysis
Abstract
The current installed incineration capacity of municipal waste combustors (MWCs) in the United States has reached approximately 50 thousand tons per day and is projected to triple over the next decade.1 As the use of MWCs as a waste management alternative has increased, public concern over possible environmental and human health effects has also increased. Of particular concern are health risks associated with potential exposures through the food chain.
Greg D. Belcher, Curtis C. Travis, Randy F. Bruins
Assessing Multiple Pathway Exposures: Variability, Uncertainty, and Ignorance
Abstract
Human populations contact environmental pollutants through food, water, and air in varying amounts each day throughout a lifetime. Thus, a realistic strategy for managing the potential health risks of municipal incinerator emissions requires a comprehensive approach with adequate attention to uncertainties. Using contaminant transfers from air to food as a case study, this paper considers two important issues in exposure assessment-completeness of the exposure model and the treatment of uncertainty in exposure estimates. This case study is used to distinguish between variability (inherent randomness in data), ignorance (incomplete data and/or lack of scientific understanding) and uncertainty (the variance in exposure estimates attributable to the combination of variability and ignorance). For the air/food pathways, I explore the use of pathway exposure factors (PEFs) that combine information on environmental partitioning (“fugacity,” biotransfer factors, deposition, etc.) with data on human diet, behavior patterns, and physiology into a numerical expression that links ambient air concentrations in mg/m3 into daily exposure in-mg/kg-d. Following EPA protocol, exposure expresses human contact with contaminants through the lungs, the gut wall, and skin surface. I describe and assess the uncertainty for exposure estimates of incinerator emissions through the air/milk and air/meat pathways. I consider the advantages and disadvantages of various methods for propagating and analyzing uncertainties.
Thomas E. McKone
Uncertainty Analysis: An Essential Component of Risk Assessment and Risk Management
Abstract
Concerns over dwindling landfill capacity in California and the state’s dependence on foreign energy resources have prompted several attempts to site waste-to-energy facilities in California. Most of these attempts have failed mostly as a result of public concern over potential health risks. The uncertainties associated with quantifying health risks have been a major obstacle to siting waste-to-energy facilities in California.
Rick Tyler, Obed Odoemelam, Paul Shulec, Michael Marchlik
Ambient Air Concentrations of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in Ohio: Sources and Health Risk Assessment Ω
Abstract
Concentrations in the environment of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), and related compounds such as polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF), have recently been the cause of great concern due to their suspected high toxicity. General low background concentrations of PCDD/PCDF are found in the atmosphere, sediments and the human populationl. Evidence in the sediment record suggest that there have been increases in PCDD/PCDF pollution since 19402. In this study, we present the results of a program to determine the sources, occurrence and effects of PCDD and PCDF concentrations in ambient air in Ohio at several locations.
Sylvia A. Edgerton, Jean M. Czuczwa, Jerry D. Rench, Robert F. Hodanbosi, Paul J. Koval
Assessing Risks from Incineration of Municipal Solid Wastes
Abstract
Incineration likely will continue to play an important role in the management of municipal solid waste; however, there risks posed incineration “notorious” is much debate and concern over the potential dioxin 2,3,7,8-TCDD and a reduced set of exposure pathways, this paper examines various issues concerning emissions from incinerators, notably the role of uncertainty and background exposures in the assessment of health risks. Various issues arising from recent proposals by the Enviromental Protection Agency for setting risk-based emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAPS) are also discussed.
D. B. Chambers, B. G. Ibbotson, B. P. Powers
Connecticut’s Dioxin Ambient Air Quality Standard
Abstract
Connecticut is the first state in the country to have adopted an ambient air quality standard for dioxins at 1 pg/m3, 2,3,7,8-TCDD equivalents, as annual average. This paper describes the scientific basis and the methodology used by the State Department of Health Services (the risk assessment agency) in assisting the Department of Environmental Protection (the risk management agency) to establish a health-based dioxin standard. This standard protects the public health from the aggregate effect of all sources of dioxin emissions in the vapor and particulate phases. The risk assessment methodology included: a limit on total daily dioxin exposure from all media and sources based on reproductive effects, a multi-media non-source specific exposure assessment, an apportionment by media of the health-based limit (including background dosing rate), an evaluation of inhalation bioavailability and cancer risk based on a calculation of a range of upperbound cancer risk estimates using different potency, bioavailability, and particle phase assumptions.
Hari V. Rao, David R. Brown
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Municipal Waste Incineration Risk Assessment
herausgegeben von
Curtis C. Travis
Copyright-Jahr
1991
Verlag
Springer US
Electronic ISBN
978-1-4615-3294-1
Print ISBN
978-1-4613-6449-8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3294-1